Super Bitch Vol. 2
Super Bitch Vol. 2 is the sixth solo album by American recording artist Natasha Lewis, released on August 29, 2016, by Def Jam Recordings. It was the second part to Super Bitch, which was released the year before. Primarily an pop album, Super Bitch Vol. 2 ''encompasses a variety of genres, including r&b, hip hop, electronic, and trap music. Part of the songs was already recorded during the sessions of the first volume, but Natasha added new songs as she started working with new producers in 2016. The album was supposed to be poppier from the begging, but it ended up having more EDM tracks than expected due to the new sessions. ''Super Bitch Vol. 2 was released digitally on the iTunes Store without prior release date announcement, and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning Natasha her fourth consecutive number-one album on the Chart. The album sold over 281,000 copies in the United States and 528,773 copies worldwide in its first five days of sales. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised its production, exploration of sexuality, and vocal performance. Background and recording Natasha Lewis' previous album, Super Bitch, was released on December 4 2015 to positive critical reviews and great commercial success, with it eventually becoming her highest-charting album in the United States to date. In press interviews in support of the album's release, Natasha alluded to another album of thematically similar material slated for release the following year. In early 2016, during press interviews, she said she was working on new material to be included with the portion that was already recorded during the Super Bitch sessions. The Super Bitch Vol. 2 track "Super Bitch", was originally titled "Keeps Getting Better", but the title was changed after Natasha decided to take the album title from the lyrics. During the months leading up to the album's release, Natasha Lewis said that thematically Super Bitch Vol. 2 would be a "poppier" and "dancier" sister to Super Bitch. The album's official title was announced in conjunction with its lead single "La La Love". The album's artwork was released on release day. Release Natasha Lewis began teasing the release of her sixth studio album since the release of Super Bitch ''in 2015. During January 2016 she suggested that the album would be released in the spring of that year, but a release date was never confirmed until the album launch. On the night of the album's release, Natasha performed a medley of "Super Bitch", "Player" and "Love Me Down" at the Video Music Awards. '''Singles' "La La Love" was released as the lead single from Super Bitch Vol. 2 on June 10, 2016. Natasha's choice for the first single was originally "Player", but the label convinced her to release "La La Love" due to the massive success of "Sax", as both songs are sonically similar. The song received positive reviews from critics. "La La Love" achieved international success, peaking atop of the charts in countries such as Australia, Denmark, Hungary, Ireland and Spain, as well as the European Hot 100 Singles. It also peaked at number two in Canada, Italy, Norway, United States and the United Kingdom, and inside the top five in many other countries. "Player" was released as the album's second single on August 29, 2016. After her label trying to choose between "Love Me Down" and "Paris", Lewis kept "Player". The song received mixed reviews, with some critics nothing it was "too basic and safe". "Player" attained worldwide success, reaching the top five in fifteen countries, while topping the charts in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Norway and the United Kingdom. In the United States, it peaked on number five. "Touch of My Hand" was the third single released from the album, on November 22, 2016. It received critical acclaim from contemporary critics. The instrumentation contains elements of Middle Eastern music and its lyrics refer to masturbation, "I will be bold/ Going to the places where I can be out of control/ Don't want to explain tonight/ All the things I try to hide". "Touch of My Hand" was her first commercial failure in the US in a while, peaking outside the top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100. However, after being promoted it reached the top of the charts in Australia, Hungary, Ireland and the United Kingdom. "Love Me Down" was the fourth and final single from the album, released on April 6, 2017. The song was finally chosen as a single after a voting on Natasha's official website. "Love Me Down" received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Some praised its funky sound, while others deemed it as "forgettable". The song only charted in France and Japan. The chart failure was due to the promotion and also the music video being cancelled, as well as the previously announced Super Bitch Tour. Critical reception Super Bitch Vol. 2 received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 64 based on twenty seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". AllMusic's Andy Kellman dubbed it Natasha's "third best album to date ... behind Continuum/Interrupted (2014) and Super Bitch (2015)," and stated, "Minus the fluff, it's close to the latter's equal." Jon Caramanica of The Times praised the production on the album, and noted that "every track sounds like a single". James Lachno of The Daily Telegraph called it "an adrenalised behemoth of a record which reasserts her position as one of pop's most compulsive pleasures". Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian called it "a blast of obnoxious, filth-fuelled pop" and felt that "it works best when the music hall bawdiness is left aside in favour of bleak euphoria". In a mixed review, Randall Roberts of The Independent expressed dissatisfaction with the themes of the album and stated, "The singer works that sexual territory, but the sauciness sometimes borders on shtick." Andy Gill of The Independent said that Lewis mostly "struggles to assert her vocal character against a sea of effects". Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz wrote that the album "tries too hard to send a more one-dimensional message" than other pop artists, adding that it "ends up falling flat". Priya Elan of NME found it "annoyingly safe" and wrote that it "leaves us with the impression Natasha Lewis has spread herself so thinly that she doesn’t have time to record a cohesive album." Track listing Deluxe Version